SoCal Edison may let customers Opt Out of smart meters

Edison says smart meters will enable the utility to manage energy demand better with real time data… that the meters will ultimately help customers save money.

But activists concerned about electromagnetic fields are just one group of objectors to the new technology. Some people have privacy concerns because Edison can send and receive information through the meters.

Meanwhile in Northern California, dozens of ratepayers for another investor-owned utility, PG&E, have complained that the new meters brought them higher bills without explanation.

The plan before the California Public Utilities Commission would enable people to opt out of the smart meter program by paying a one-time fee of $70 and a monthly charge of $10.

The Commission could schedule an up or down vote on the plan next month.

Smart meter installation has already started in Edison territory, though the utility is allowing some homes and businesses to delay the switch.

Marin County joins SmartMeter ‘opt-out’ protest

Marin County has joined a coalition of California governments and civic groups in a formal protest of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s costly “opt out” program for people who don’t want SmartMeters.

County supervisors voted 3-0 Tuesday to join Fairfax and other agencies across the state in signing a protest petition advising the California Public Utilities Commission that PG&E’s option plan is burdensome and too costly. Also joining the protest was the Alliance for Human and Environmental Health, a West Marin coalition.

The move urges the commission to toss out the proposed opt-out plan based on legal, fiscal and technological grounds.

“The road to energy efficiency doesn’t need to ignore the concerns of local communities,” said Supervisor Steve Kinsey, adding the utilities commission has not responded to letters sent by the Marin board raising questions about the program to replace standard meters with the wireless devices.

“This petition really boils down to ‘one size does not fit all’ in California,” he said.

The protest urges the state to embrace local government ordinances and craft a less expensive regional alternative to the PG&E proposal.

The utility’s proposal would allow it to recover expenses it says an opt-out program costs. Its plan includes one-time charges of either $135 or $270, plus either monthly fees or a surcharge on gas and electric use.

“PG&E’s SmartMeter program “… will raise rates and generate increased profits for the utility and its shareholders” while discriminating against consumers who opt out for health or other reasons, warned Fairfax Mayor Larry Bragman in a statement trumpeting the petition.

At the same time, Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, urged that a hard-wired SmartMeter alternative be made available for customers who object to wireless meters on terms that are affordable. His AB 37 would do just that, but he is holding the bill in committee pending the utility’s response to a commission request it do the same thing.

PG&E’s installation of the wireless meters has caused a stir across Marin. Both the county of Marin and the town of Fairfax adopted temporary bans on installation of the meters, although county law enforcement officials have declined to enforce the county law.

Despite the possibility that PG&E may finally consider a wired alternative to its controversial wireless digital smart meters, Fairfax decided to begin the process of nuisance abatement against the utility. This is the first step towards the town physically removing the four PG&E antennas that serve as gathering and transmission points for the smart meters.

“We might as well take that next step and see where it goes,” said Fairfax Council Member Larry Bragman.

The antennas or transponder units, Fairfax claims, were put up without the necessary town approval or permits. Fairfax has issued a number of citations and PG&E has said that the utility is not subject to local jurisdiction’s ordinances.

A nuisance abatement proceeding – designed for those that defy town codes and do not amend the violation – is a hearing that occurs first in front of town staff, then in front of the council, and could ultimately be appealed to the courts. If it is decided that the PG&E antennas are a nuisance in violation of town code, then they will be abated or physically taken down.

It is not yet clear if PG&E will voluntarily participate in the nuisance abatement hearing.

“I don’t know how we’re going to get them to participate in a hearing, when they won’t acknowledge our right to issue these citations,” said Mark Lockaby, Fairfax’s building official.

“State law gives the [California Public Utilities Commission] exclusive oversight over the utilities,” said PG&E spokesperson Paul Moreno, who also said he hadn’t been notified by the town of the proceeding yet and so wouldn’t comment on the specifics.

Bragman said it seems gas meters are being replaced. Town Manager Michael Rock also acknowledged that the police department has taken a number of reports of meters being installed. But, PG&E has said that they are only replacing meters that are broken or need replacement. In those cases, they don’t have any older meters to replace them with, and so residents are getting the new digital smart meter. However, the meters that are being installed are not active and are not transmitting or receiving data.

In more than one case, Wellington contractors have been confronted by angry residents demanding to know why PG&E is violating both the town’s moratorium and the utility’s voluntary delay. In nearly every instance, the contractors have said they had no knowledge of the moratorium and were given work orders to install the meters.

The council also voted Wednesday night to send a certified letter to the subcontractors notifying them they were in violation of the moratorium.

“So, they can’t feign surprise with such sincerity,” said Bragman.

On the positive side, for those who have been concerned about the health, safety, privacy, and security issues surrounding the meters, PG&E has agreed to consider a wired alternative to the wireless meters at the behest of the Marin Energy Authority (MEA).

“They are looking into it and will get back to us in the next couple of weeks,” said MEA Executive Director Dawn Weisz.

Moreno also acknowledged that MEA asked PG&E to look into wired meters and that they will be reporting on the feasibility of offering an alternative for some residents.

Weisz said that MEA, which doesn’t have any control over the installation of the meters, may help PG&E with outreach and public education about energy efficiency, but only if customers are offered a choice about what type of meter they could have installed: wired or wireless.

For critics of the meters, the wireless transmission of individual usage data raises health concerns about electromagnetic frequencies and radio frequencies. Because the data is transmitted from the smart meters on individual’s homes via a mesh cellular network to the transponder antennas on nearby poles, there is also concern that that network could easily be hacked into – making it easy for criminals to know when residents were home or what their daily habits were.

A wired option – using either fiber optic or a shielded cable – has been suggested by a number of opponents and is used as part of a smart grid in a number of countries, including Italy. In its application to the CPUC, the EMF Safety Network asked for a wired smart grid instead of the wireless one.

“At this point, as a first step, I would be satisfied with a moratorium and an opportunity to be heard by the CPUC,” said Sandi Maurer, president of the EMF Safety Network.

PG&E has said in the past that a fiber-optic or wired option would be prohibitively expensive and would be a large-scale project involving construction and further disruption of residents’ lives. The CPUC approved the wireless, digital meters as part of a larger smart grid. PG&E will finish the deployment of 10 million meters by 2012.

If PG&E does agree to a wired alternative meter at MEA’s request, it will be the first such concession it has made.

Homeowners addressed the California Public Utilities Commission in September, asking the commissioners to place an emergency moratorium on PG&E’s wireless gas and electric Smart Meters.

The CPUC told KCRA 3 that it has received more than 2,000 health-related complaints but said the health issues are not its jurisdiction and referred customers to the Federal Communications Commission and state health officials.

A Sebastopol-based group, the EMF Safety Network, studies the health impacts of electromagnetic fields and radio frequency radiation.

The group said it is collecting data that proves PG&E Smart Meters are hazardous to human health.

A number of the people who said they are getting sick said they suffer from a condition called electrical sensitivity or electromagnetic hypersensitivity, or EHS.

However, people who claim to suffer from electrical sensitivity said their symptoms are very real.

“The trouble is, a lot of times, people don’t connect the dots between their health symptoms and electrical exposure,” Sandy Mauer with the EMF Safety Network said. The WHO said there is no convincing scientific evidence that weak RF signals from wireless networks cause health problems.

SmartMeters emit about one watt, less than cell phones, which some research finds riskier because they are held to the head.

PG&E said its meters comply with federal safety standards.

“Radio frequency is all around us,” Paul Moreno from PG&E said.

“SmartMeters are a very small measure of that. They are well within what you find with ordinary household appliances and far within FCC guidelines.”

Moreno said before PG&E rolled out its SmartMeters, it commissioned independent experts to examine how SmartMeters’ RF levels stack up against other common household devices.

“The studies by the World Health Organization and other health experts have found no health effects from low-level RF such as you will find with a Smart Meter device,” Moreno said

San Rafael Assemblyman Jared Huffman has received complaints from a number of his constituents.

He has asked the California Council on Science and Technology to examine SmartMeters and whether current FCC standards are sufficient to protect public health.

“I think that’s going to be hugely helpful to take this debate to one based on sort of fear and a dismissive response to that fear, and try to inject some independent credible science,” Huffman said.

The council could release its report by the end of 2010.

“I think we have the right to a healthy life,” PG&E customer Tim Hudson said. “And we have the right to choose. And I think in both these cases, that’s being taken away from us.”

Assemblyman Huffman addressed that concern saying no matter what conclusions the Council on Science and Technology returns, he is considering looking at some kind of opt-out option for customers who do not want smart meter technology on their homes.

PG&E said it takes customer concerns very seriously. It has met with a number of communities who have raised health-related concerns, in an effort to raise awareness and educate customers.

PG&E continues to deploy some 10 million meters in its territory statewide, complying with the CPUC’s SmartMeters proposal to install the wireless meters on all customers’ residences.

In the meantime, there is no resolution for customers who said SmartMeters are ticking time bombs.

“My choice now, is I may have to leave my home,” Louise Stanphill said. “I may have to move from my house, but where do I go?”

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Smart Meters – NOT IN OUR HOMES and BACKYARDS!

by “Public Exposure” Film Co-Producer Mary Beth Brangan

She encourages listeners and viewers to join the growing nation-wide citizen / ratepayer resistance to this dangerous greenwashed corporate assault on democratic choice, public health, safety, privacy, property rights and national energy security. The industry is paying serious note to the growing pushback.

Sebastopol residents lash out against PG&E plan for ‘smart meters’

PG&E’s plan to install wireless meters on area homes has some Sebastopol residents calling for city leaders to reject the plan because they fear the meters could impact their health. Click to view water metre

” Interupted sleep, irregular heart beat”

” Felt increasingly bad, especially at the back of our house “

Marin California BLOCKS ‘SMART’ METERS

PGE considers SmartMeter compromise

David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is considering options for customers who
fear that the utility’s new, wireless SmartMeters jeopardize their
health, although company representatives won’t say what those might be.

“We want those customers to understand that we take their concerns
seriously,” said PGE spokesman Jeff Smith. “We’re still in a
preliminary stage of review, including weighing the costs of any
options. We will make this information public in the coming months as we develop it.”

Until now, San Francisco’s PGE has responded to questions about the
meters’ possible health effects by insisting that the devices are safe
– and by continuing installation. People who say they are sensitive to
radiation from cell phones, laptop computers and other wireless
devices have demanded a moratorium on the $2.2 billion SmartMeter
program, only to be rebuffed by the company and state regulators.

The issue, however, has not gone away.

A scientific organization that advises the California Legislature on
technical issues is expected to release a preliminary report on one
aspect of the SmartMeter health debate in mid-December. The consumer
advocacy branch of the California Public Utilities Commission
recommended this week that the commission, which oversees PGE, study
whether the meters can threaten public health.

The idea that wireless devices can cause cancer and other illnesses
remains hotly disputed. But in an interview Friday in the San Jose
Mercury News, PGE Chief Executive Officer Peter Darbee said the
company is looking for a “compromise solution” for people who consider
the devices a health risk. He didn’t elaborate.

For months, PGE critics have suggested two main alternatives:
allowing customers to opt out of the SmartMeter program and keep their
old electricity and gas meters, or using SmartMeters that transmit
their data through wires. Smith declined to say Friday whether either
possibility was under consideration.

Possible risks to public

Michael Peevey, president of the utilities commission, said he had
suggested to PGE executives that they find some way to address the
concerns of people who say they suffer from “electrosensitivity.” He
did not want to say which options he had suggested.

“My personal view is that PGE ought to consider some means to address
people who sincerely believe they’re affected,” Peevey said.

In July, Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, asked the California
Council on Science and Technology to examine whether the federal
limits on radiation from wireless devices, including SmartMeters,
adequately protect the public. The council sent him an update Monday,
saying a preliminary report should be ready by mid-December, and the
final version could come in early January.

The council, which draws experts from California’s universities and
national laboratories, has been reviewing the current literature on
advanced meters and wireless health questions as well as soliciting
input from specialists in the field, according to the update.

Seeking separate study

Sandi Maurer, founder of the EMF Safety Network, said she was pleased
that the council was studying the issue. But she still wants the
utilities commission to do its own investigation.

Her group filed a formal request with the commission this year asking
for a detailed study of the intensity of the radiation emitted by
PGE’s meters and the cumulative radiation exposure PGE customers
could face. The network also wants public hearings on the possible
health effects of these devices. PGE customers have been contacting
the network, blaming the new meters for headaches, sleep disorders and
painful ringing in the ears.

Maurer said that allowing individuals to opt out of the SmartMeter
program wouldn’t be enough to protect electrosensitive people, because
other meters would still be transmitting nearby.

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440 million new hackable smart grid points

By the end of 2015, the potential security risks to the smart grid will reach 440 million new hackable points. Billions are being spent on smart grid cybersecurity, but it seems like every time you turn around, there is yet another vulnerability exposing how to manipulate smart meters or power-grid data. At the IEEE SmartGridComm2010 conference, Le Xie, Texas A&M University’s assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, gave examples of how attackers could hack the power grid for fun and profit.

California residents are ramping up their efforts to stop, or at least slow down, the installation of smart meters. The state has already seen consumers incensed over smart meters, from central valley to the bay area, and there’s even a bill introduced in the state that will allow consumers to opt out of wireless smart meter installations until health studies are completed. However, the latest action by Marin residents really takes the cake — they created a road blockade that effectively turned around PG&E trucks reportedly going into a town to install smart meters. And they got arrested.

SF Weekly reports that about 30 members of the West Marin Citizens Against Smart Meters blocked the only route to Inverness, a tiny town that clearly won’t be getting smart meters soon. The blocked trucks were subcontractors headed in to install Smart Meters, but their plans yesterday were changed.

The concerned citizens are worried about privacy. Katharina Sandizell-Smith, one of the women arrested during the protest, told SF Weekly, “Privacy — I don’t want to be watched all the time; health — I want to see the peak pulse emissions from PG&E; and the under-the radar rollout — they’re installing them in our homes.”

Under the radar? Smart meter installations have been news for years — it shouldn’t come as a surprise when a utility company that has been talking about their massive installation efforts finally shows up at your door.

While a moratorim on the installations have been requested, it was rejected earlier in the month by the California Utilities Commission. So… people are standing in the roads instead.

The woman says she’s trying to protect her children — is she also ensuring that they play far away from any telephone lines, ban wireless modems from the house, and treat cell phones like they’re mini nuclear bombs?

While it’s reasonable to do thorough studies on the health impacts of smart meters, it seems like an overreaction to fear for your child’s health over smart meters. Smart meters are a key component to the smart grid, which will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and our overall energy consumption, which means a bright spot for reducing GHGs. It seems that might be a bigger concern for our children’s future welfare.

No small amount of blame over this incident can be put on PG&E, however. Studies have shown that most consumer’s know next to nothing about smart meters and the smart grid, and that consumer education boosts support for the upgrades. If PG&E were doing a better job of educating consumers before installations, perhaps freaked out people wouldn’t be blocking their routes.

First Arrests of Smart Meter Protesters in U.S. Made Today in Marin Co., California

Two activists protesting the deployment of smart meters by Northern California’s Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. (NYSE: PCG) today became the first anti-smart meter campaigners in the U.S. to be arrested for their actions.

Katharina Sandizell-Smith and Kristin McCrory were accused of blocking a public street in Inverness Park, California this morning and arrested by Marin County Sheriff’s Deputies. In a variety of venues, groups associated with today’s arrests allege that wireless smart meters emit levels of electromagnetic frequency (EMF) radiation that are harmful to human health.
Marin County Sheriff’s Deputies arrest Katharina Sandizell-Smith (left) and June
DiMorente (right) in Inverness Park, California this morning.
Photo: Courtesy of Scotts Valley Neighbors Against Smart Meters
A spokesperson for the group that organized the protest concurs with our assessment that these are the first arrests of anti-smart meter activists in the United States.

Today’s arrests mark a new flash point among the citizen groups scattered around the nation and electric utilities installing the terminals which are key elements of the emerging American smart grid infrastructure.

In comments of this afternoon to this publication, spokesperson Joshua Hart of the group that organized the Marin civil disobedience action went further than voicing the group’s continued criticism of PG&E’s smart meter effort. He warned the U.S. wireless industry of an increasing militancy of activists fighting what they believe to be the harmful impacts of a variety of EMF applications present throughout society.

“The wireless industry needs to look itself in the mirror and decide whether they are going to follow the tobacco industry’s route of denial and deception, burdening a generation with lasting health impacts or invest in high speed fibre optic, wired and stable connections for our future telecommunications needs”, said Hart in an email in response to our questions about today’s arrests.

“There is a growing revolution across the country against forced wireless smart meters, and other microwave radiation near people’s homes. Government and industry would be wise to take note,” concluded the spokesperson of the group named Scotts Valley Neighbors Against Smart Meters, based in Santa Cruz County, California.
Hart agreed with our estimate that today’s arrests in Marin are the first in the United States staged by anti-smart meter protesters. This assessment is concurred with by another leading anti-smart meter organizer, Sandi Maurer of Sebastopol, CA. Ms. Maurer is a co-founder of the EMF Safety Network.

As several California legislators and consumer groups have criticized various aspects of PG&E’s smart meter roll out as it effects ratepayers, these two groups have instead focused on what they see as the EMF ramifications of the large scale deployment.

Although concerns about the perceived harm of EMF radiation have been voiced for years by citizens opposed to the construction of wireless antenna sites, the new focus on smart meters has caught the U.S. wireless industry by surprise as it increases capital investment in 4G broadband networks. Activists allege that the peak or pulse radiation emitted by smart meters as they cycle through bursts of near real time data delivery should be further investigated and limited by federal equipment certification processes. They routinely state, in testimony to state utility regulators and in other venues, that this issue of peak radiation has not been properly studied by either the utility or wireless sectors.

“Who Are These Guys, and What Do They Want From Us”?
Marin County, California, like its more famous sister county across the Golden Gate, San Francisco, is one of the most progressive areas in the nation. Should the American wireless sector see concerns about EMF issues in Marin, in San Francisco, and in other areas of the Golden State as early telltales of a potential national trend, or as outliers easily dismissed?

“Yes,” said Sandi Maurer answering our question about the possible importance of today’s apparently planned arrests, “today is significant in terms of the movement” toward what she calls “prudent use” of wireless.

“There is a certain part of the population, I can’t guess how large it is, that avoids the use of wireless for health reasons,” said Maurer of the EMF Safety Network. She pointed out that for those people wary of EMF radiation from a variety of sources, the perception that a utility will install a wireless meter in one’s home without an “opt out” provision is upsetting.

Advocates for smart grid investment nationally — investment which has been given an $11 billion jump start by federal stimulus funding ($3.4 billion dedicated to smart meters) appropriated by Congress for programs of the U.S. Department of Energy — can be forgiven for perhaps regarding two arrests in bucolic and tony West Marin as being apropos of nothing. Coupled with consumer protection concerns over billing accuracy, and over capital costs loaded onto the rate base will the growing militancy focused on smart meters argue for state level throttling back on deployments?

Coming on the heels of passage in June of San Francisco’s local ordinance requiring EMF warning labels on all wireless deices sold in the city, calls in Congress for further radiation studies, and EMF activism around smart meter installation programs in other California locations, one wonders where and how a tipping point of negative public assessment of a growing wireless world may be reached.

Our Take: We in Industry Need to Take A Closer Look in 2011

We believe wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers will be paying closer attention in 2011 to how smart meter deployments may become, surprisingly to many of us, drivers of an elevated concern with EMF issues by some U.S. consumers. We think the smarter utilities and regulators will be doing the same. We think that’s a good thing.
Yes, yes, we’ve heard all the arguments that people concerned about this stuff are crazy. Here’s the deal: We in the telecom industry make our living in a sector that is regulated at all 3 levels of government. We’ve permitted wired and wireless technologies since before most people knew what cable television was. We’ve been preaching in favor of the smart grid over broadband since before those terms were in common use. Despite what we might like to think, we don’t have a god given right to dig up a street, site a tower, or receive public sector subsidies. We do all those things, and more, because our customers want our services.
When fellow Americans, no matter how few and no matter how vilified, are going into the streets to get arrested about something our industry is doing, is that really a good thing for us? Anyone that thinks it is a good thing has never actually done the hard work of permitting, licensing, or deploying the technologies that drive our country’s economy.

Let’s drop back and listen, do some more studies, allow opt outs when necessary. The big power monopolies, like PG&E, trace their ancestry back to the robber baron era. They often remind us of that. Many of us in competitive telecom grew up fighting a big bad monopoly called the Bell System. We had fellow consumers on our side as we did. Let’s remember that.

Health risks could switch off home energy meters

Storm clouds are gathering over the booming domestic-energy monitoring sector in the US as concern grows that household electricity smart meters could pose serious health risks.

Investors in this new sector should be aware that, despite its green-energy saving credentials, the smart-metering industry could become the focus of international concern regarding the levels of radiation generated by the new digital devices.

The smart-meter sector is now starting to see a trend towards mergers and acquisitions. But reports in mid-February that smart-meter maker Landis & Gear, believed to be worth roughly US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn), is about to be auctioned coincided with news of mounting anti-smart meter protests in the US.

For three days, residents of Marin County, California, formed a human shield to stop trucks from delivering Pacific Gas and Electric Co’s smart meters, due to be installed in their homes. According to the San Jose Mercury News, two female protesters arrested by police said the demonstrations were organised to draw attention to concerns that low-level radiation from the meters posed a serious health risk for children.

There is growing popular antagonism against smart meters in California, where “Stop Smart Meters” signs and bumper stickers have been multiplying on front lawns and cars. In response to these and other fears, such as invasion of privacy, the Californian authorities have imposed bans on smart-meter installation. In Santa Cruz, California, a year-long moratorium has been imposed on smart-meter installation and in Marin County, there is a ban on smart meters in some rural areas. Safety fears are now starting to spread across America, with residents in Maine waging internet-based campaigns and a growing number of towns adopting moratoria on smart meter installations.

Health concerns focus on a condition known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS). Sufferers claim that the radiation from devices such as mobile phones, WiFi systems and smart meters can cause dizziness, headaches, tiredness and heart palpitations.

Those in favour of installing smart meters claim EHS is the product of pseudoscience. But others point out that the potential long-term ill effects of constant exposure to low-level radiation include cancer. There are also growing fears among some consumers that the long-term effects of constant exposure to wireless radiation may take at least a generation to surface, as was the case with cigarette smoking in the first half of the 20th century.

But while the jury is still out on whether smart meters pose health risks, the energy-monitoring industry is likely to experience a degree of wariness on the part of investors. Markets are driven by “sentiment”, a polite word for greed and fear. The fear now among some investors is that the smart-meter industry could be about to suffer a dramatic setback if health concerns begin to escalate globally.

Fears are being further fuelled by fresh safety concerns about the risk of fire from poorly installed smart meters. In California, the anti-smart metering lobby is claiming that poorly trained engineers are installing potentially lethal smart meters. In Australia, the Electrical Union claims that Energy Safe, the industry regulator, is allowing unqualified subcontractors to install smart meters in Victoria.

There are also growing concerns regarding privacy issues. Right-wing groups such as the North Bay Patriots, a Californian affiliate of the Tea Party, insist that smart meters will be an invasion of privacy. Smart meters monitor every aspect of domestic energy consumption and allows consumers to monitor and manage their usage in detail. Companies gearing up to network this vast quantity of data include the search engine giant Google. There is, however, concern that by allowing the utilities and companies such as Google to spy on consumers’ personal lives, smart metering could further erode personal privacy.

By monitoring minute-by-minute energy consumption it would, for example, be easy to deduce when people are home or how many individuals are likely to have been there at any one time.

These fears have together created a powerful alliance between California’s liberal left, who are mainly concerned about health issues, and right-wing groups who believe the installation of smart meters are the thin end of a wedge of future state intervention into citizens’ personal lives.

California’s rejection of smart meters could also have investment repercussions way beyond energy-monitoring companies. Smart metering is a central pillar of President Barack Obama’s vision of a “green grid” supplying energy nationwide.

Should the US health and privacy fears continue to spread internationally, there could be global consequences.

According to Pike Research, the total installed base of smart meters in the Asia Pacific will increase from 52.8 million in 2010 to 350.3m by 2016. But the global growth of the industry in the Asia Pacific and elsewhere will suffer a severe setback should consumer resistance to smart-meter installation continue to grow throughout 2011.

Southern CA Nonprofit Protests Unsafe SDG&E Smart Grid Plan

The Center for Electrosmog Prevention (CEP), in cooperation with CAlifornians for Renewable Energy, Inc. (CARE) has filed a Protest with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) against San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) on July 6, 2011 in efforts to stop the expansion of a dangerous, large scale, radiation-emitting mesh network of wireless smart meters (automatic readers) already placed on every building and home, including power plant dependency on this technology.

The mesh network is a vast indoor and outdoor area that blankets our county and state with unnatural levels of harmful, rf radiation, with nowhere to escape it. Widespread reports of human and animal illness have already occurred in areas deployed with these new utility smart meters, and complainants have not received help or relief. CEP objects to this reckless disregard and further establishment of an infrastructure that has already been shown to cause harm and even drives people from their homes.

Electrosmog is a new, manmade form of pollution, also known as electromagnetic radiation. Unnatural levels of this radiation, like those produced by smart meters, are believed by scientists to be unsafe, harmful and the effects to be cumulative.

CEP protests the fact that CPUC has waived environmental impact studies and has allowed SDG&E to deploy wireless smart meters in its service area without checking for safety. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently issued a warning on May 31, 2011 that all rf radiation, like that produced by smart meters and cell phones, is a type 2B carcinogen and particularly dangerous to children. Based on WHO’s determination, many scientists are warning that the radiation given off by smart meters in homes and workplaces presents an unacceptable cancer risk. One radiation expert, Daniel Hirsch, has found that smart meters may provide up to 160 times the full body radiation of cell phones, and they are on 24/7. Another expert compares smart meters to a “mini-cell tower” on every home.

Many smart meters are placed on the walls of occupied spaces like bedrooms or kitchens, where highly susceptible individuals like women, pregnant women, babies, children, and the elderly, are located in close proximity. Some scientists are concerned about studies that show rf radiation interference with human, animal, and insect reproduction – especially concerning bees, necessary for our agriculture.

Health complaints have been flooding the CPUC since the deployment of smart meters has begun and CEP believes expanding this program, rather than independently analyzing these problems and finding acceptable solutions, is reckless. This flawed plan has the potential to permanently harm citizens of California and our precious environment.

CEP asks for a halt to the program and independent analysis, with solutions to be reviewed and approved by a panel of experts that CEP shall establish

10 COUNTIES IN CA HAVE VOTED TO OPPOSE SMART METERS

AND 10 HAVE BANNED THE DEVICES

July 12, 2011 (La Mesa) – The Center for Electrosmog Prevention in La Mesa along with Californians for Renweable Energy, Inc. filed a protest July 6 with the California Public Utilities commission (CPUC) against San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E).

The complaint seeks to stop expansion of “a dangerous, large scale, radiation-emitting mesh network of wireless smart meters (automatic readers)” that have already been installed at many homes and businesses locally.

In Califiornia, 43 counties have gone on record opposing smart meters–and 10 have banned them completely. But San Diego’s Supervisors have not taken any such action.

Opponents who filed the CPUC protest contend that the mesh network is “a vast indoor and outdoor area that blankets our county and state with unnatural levels of harmful, rf radiation, with nowhere to escape it. Widespread reports of human and animal illness have already occurred in areas deployed with these new utility smart meters, and complainants have not received help or relief. CEP objects to this reckless disregard and further establishment of an infrastructure that has already been shown to cause harm and even drives people from their homes.”

Smart meter advocates say that the units allow utility companies to track hourly usage, which in turn can foster efficiency and lead to reduced energy consumption. The meters also enable utilities to save money by reducing or eliminating meter reader jobs. Proponents also note that they have complied with state and federal laws in installing the devices and have disputed health issues raised.

PG&E now allows its customers to opt-out of having smart meters, albeit for a cost. Santa Barbara County Supervisors on July 6 voted to send a letter to the CPUC urging that customers of Southern California Edison also be allowed to opt out. But thus far, SDG&E customers in San Diego have no option to opt out if they have concerns over health impacts. The utility has insisted that smart meters are safe and within legal guidelines.

But increasingly, people who have had smart meters installed in their homes are coming forward to complain of health problems that they believe are caused by the meters. In Santa Barbara, one woman broke down in tears while testifying to Supervisors about her health issues.

Some customers are staging protests and even going to jail to stand up for their beliefs. In Santa Cruz, two people were arrested earlier this month for attempting to peacefully block installation of smart meters at their homes.

The term “electrosmog” is used to refer to a new, manmade form of pollution, also known as electromagnetic radiation. Critics contend that unnatural levels of this radiation, like those produced by smart meters, are believed by some scientists to be unsafe and the effects cumulative. Opponents object to the fact that CPUC has waived environmental impact studies and has allowed SDG&E to deploy wireless smart meters in its service area without what the groups consider adequate safety checks.

Opponents further state that the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning on May 31, 2011 that all rf radiation, like that produced by smart meters and cell phones, is a type 2B carcinogen and “particularly dangerous to children. Based on WHO’s determination, many scientists are warning that the radiation given off by smart meters in homes and workplaces presents an unacceptable cancer risk.

One radiation expert, Daniel Hirsch, has found that smart meters may provide up to 160 times the full body radiation of cell phones, and they are on 24/7. Another expert compares smart meters to a “mini-cell tower” on every home.” The press release issued by opponents does not cite specifics on their sources, however.

Many smart meters are placed on the walls of occupied spaces like bedrooms or kitchens, where women, pregnant women, babies, children, and the elderly who may be more vulnerable are located in close proximity.

“Some scientists are concerned about studies that show rf radiation interference with human, animal, and insect reproduction – especially concerning bees, necessary for our agriculture,” the complaint contends. Various health complaints received by the CPUC since the deployment of smart meters began. CEP argues that expanding this program, rather than independently analyzing these problems and finding acceptable solutions, is “reckless” and has the potential to “permanently harm citizens of California and our precious environment.

CEP asks for a halt to the program and independent analysis, with solutions to be reviewed and approved by a panel of experts that CEP would establish.